It is so easy to think we have things figured out in life and without someone to robustly challenge our assumptions we just continue to think them – at times to our cost. This is one of the reasons coaching is so powerful. You have someone totally on your side and yet, at the same…

Why is the culture of an organisation so important? The late Peter Drucker, one of the world’s leading business thinkers, is credited with the saying… ‘Culture eats strategy for breakfast’. He believed that the culture of an organisation was the prime mover in the successful implementation of business strategy. If the strategy was incompatible with…

Although the term ‘sales’ can have negative connotations these days, if you are providing a professional service then engaging new clients and re-engaging existing ones is often an important part of your business. So, what can give you a significant advantage? A while back I came across some research that is both eye-opening and food…

As a financial practitioner it is easy to only talk to your clients about products, investments and financial matters. Why? Because it is comfortable for you. It is where you feel safe. It is what you know about. But this isn’t where the real juice in the relationship is – not for you or your…

Have you noticed how resilience has become a hot topic in business? There are TED talks on it, it is being written about in the Harvard Business Review and organisations are beginning to realise that high resilience levels are a major factor in creating sustainable success. Often, the most successful people and businesses are not…

“If the only thing people learned was not to be afraid of their experience, that alone would change the world.” Sydney Banks Being a powerful influencer is a vital aspect of your role with clients and yet it is something that advisers can be uncomfortable with. In part 1 of this article we looked at the…

“This is what it means to serve: improving another’s life and, in turn, improving the world.” Daniel H. Pink, To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others Being an effective influencer and confidently selling your services are essential skills if you want to build a thriving practice based upon getting great results for your…

There is a famous story about a woman visiting Gandhi with her young son. She and her son had travelled a long way and when they eventually got their chance to speak with him he asked how he could help and the woman said “My son eats far too much sugar, can you tell him…

Jacques Prevert a French poet, once walked by a blind beggar who had a sign next to him that read… “Blind Man without a pension.” He asked the man how he was doing, and the blind man replied… “Very badly, no one is making any donations.” Jacques picked up the man’s sign and changed what…

Would you like to build even stronger, more productive relationships with your clients and deliver more value than ever before? Although technical knowledge seems to have taken precedence over everything else for advisers in recent years, what use is it if an adviser is not able to combine what they know with the ability to…